Method of expressing fruit juices



l atented Mar. 18, 1941- UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE METHOD or EXPREJSSING FRUIT Juices so Drawing. Application July 26, 1939,

, Serial No. 286,622

1 Claim. (01. 100-50) This invention relates to a method of expressing fruit juices. More particularly the invention pertains to a method of expressingjuices from fruits or berries crushed or cooked to form pulps 5 by pressing the latter against cloth permeable to juices but not to the substance of said pulps.

As heretofore practiced, such methods of expressing fruit juices require the frequent replacement or washing of the cloth used, forthe pores of the latter are rapidly clogged by slimy matter contained in the fruit pulp. Further, an impractically large area of filtering cloth must. be used for each volume of pulp, as otherwise the cloth will be clogged before all the juice has been expressed, with a resultant poor yield of fruit juice. This is particularly the case with soft fruits such as berries; ripe pears, peaches and apricots, which contain relatively large amounts of slime together with relatively small amounts of fibrous material.

The residual pomace also tends to adhere to the cloth and must be scraped off or otherwise removed after each pressing operation.

It is therefore an important object of the present invention to provide a method of expressing fruit juices involving the use of cloth wherein the pores of the latter are not clogged by slime.

Another important object of this invention is to provide a method of expressing fruit juices involving the use of cloth which yields a residual pomace that does not tend to adhere to said cloth.

Other and further objects of this invention will become apparent to those skilled in the art from the following description and appended claims.

We have found that the incorporation of feltable cellulosic fibers with pulped fruits or berries will eliminate clogging of the pores of a cloth by slime, with a resultant large yield of clear fruit juice. The addition of cellulosic fibers also yields a residual pomace that does not adhere to a cloth.

Cellulosic fibers suitable for such use as filter 45 aids may be obtained by thoroughly disintegrating, in water, paper pulp, white tissue paper or other paper products made from a substantially pure cellulosic short fibered product such as bleached sulphite pulp or cotton rags. Obviously 50 such paper products should neither be tinted, scented, sized, loaded nor otherwise treated so as to effect the incorporation therewith of noncellulosic materials.

Less purely cellulosic forms of paper, such as 5' mechanical pulp, disintegrate into fibers that do not felt well and are therefore not adapted for use as filter aids. Long fibered cellulosic products such as absorbent cotton are almost impossible to disintegrate satisfactorily.

The disintegration of suitable paper products 5 results in what substantially amounts to a regenerated paper pulp, which may be run through a screen. The wet fibers retained on the screen are allowed to drain and are thereafter thoroughly incorporatedwith the fruit pulp to be pressed. In jelly making, this intermixture may suitably be eifected during the heating of the fruit pulp. The amount of wet fibrous cellulosic material to be added varies according to the nature of the material to be pressed. From one to three parts by volume of gravity drained cellulosic pulp usually suffice for eight parts by volume of fruit pulp.

The pressing may be carried out by partially filling a bag of suitable cloth with fruit pulp containing a suitable amount of cellulosic fibers, twisting or clamping the upper, empty portion of the bag to prevent the escape of pulp therethrough and subjecting the lower portion of the (bag within which the pulp is confined to sufficient pressure to express the juice, which is caught in a suitable container. A simple shaking and inversion of the bag after each pressing operation suffices to remove the residual pomace, which contains all the slimy matter. One bag can therefore be used for many immediately succeeding pressing operations without need for intervening washing or scraping steps.

The following example will describe in detail the specific application of the principles of this invention to the expressing of the juice from strawberries, which contain considerable amounts of slimy material.

A regenerated paper pulp is prepared by soaking, in luke warm water, and then thoroughly disintegrating, by tearing or stirring, not scented or tinted cleansing tissue of the type commonly used as a substitute for handkerchiefs, for removal of cold cream, and for like purposes. Such r cleansing tissues are available everywhere under 0 many trade names. The resulting suspension of cellulosic fibers is poured through a cloth or a screen capable of retaining the fibers. About one cupful'of the paper pulp fibers is added to each four cups of berries. The fibers are intimately mixed with the pulped strawberries during the heating of the latter.

The resulting pulp containing dispersed cellulosic fibers is then poured into a cloth bag of such size that it is filled about one-third or onehalf full. The bag is held by means of a holding device comprising an elongated open-framed handle having one constricted end and a round loop or eye adjacent thereto, through which the top of the bag is threaded and pulled upwardly as far as possible after having been folded into compact roughly cylindrical shape. The free end of the ba is then pulled downwardly through the constricted portion of the handle, which will hold the bag tightly and securely. The lower portion of the bag filled with pulp is then placed in a container having a perforated bottom, such as a colander, and subjected to pressure by means of a potato masher, a quart milk bottle, or any other serviceable instrument. The juice is caught in a container placed below the perforated bottom.

After pressing, the bag is removed from the loop, shaken lightly and inverted, when the contents will drop out in practically one mass. The cellulosic fibers carry with them all of the fruit cells and slime and leave the bag in such condition that the pressing operation may be repeated numerous times without need for intervening scraping oil of residual pomace or washing to remove slimy material clogging the pores of the cloth.

About 200 sheets of the cleansing tissue sold under the trade name Kleenex suffice for making glasses of strawberry jelly. These figures are cited to show the low cost of our novel method of expressing fruit juices.

If it is desired to recover the cellulosic fibers for repeated use, the crushed or cooked pulp may be drained through a revolving screen reel having ver fine perforations. The pulp may be washed with water and re-run. The cellu losic fibers are added to the material drained from the reel and the resulting mixture is then pressed to obtain the juice. The residual caked fiber containing the slime is disintegraded With a large volume of water and washed through a screen having larger perforations than the screen reel. The fine cellular particles and the slime, together with some of the cellulosic fibers, are washed away with the water, but a major portion of the cellulosic fibers is retained on the screen and may be used a second time.

As may be seen from the above disclosed principles and illustrative example, our invention comprises, broadly speaking, the use as filter aids of thoroughly beaten pure cellulosic fibers in the expressing, through cloth, of juices from pulped fruit. An unobvious and unexpected result of this use of cellulosic fibers is the complete prevention of the otherwise normally occurring sliming up of the inside and pores of any cloth used together with the additional elimination of the need for the removal of adhering residual pomace.

Our novel use of pure cellulosic fibers as filter aids is to be sharply distinguished from the use of the same as filter media. For the latter purpose pure cellulosic fibrous webs such as filter paper are practically inoperative, since they are very rapidly clogged by slime.

It will, of course, be understood that various details may be varied through a wide range without departing from the principles of this invention and it is, therefore, not the purpose to limit the patent granted hereon otherwise than necessitated by the scope of the appended claim.

We claim as our invention:

The method of separating fruit juices from pulped fruit particles which comprises soaking in water cellulose substances having the characteristics of being non-scented, unsized, nontinted, and substantially in a pure state, disintegrating the cellulose substances while being soaked to form a suspension of cellulose fibers,

strainin the suspension tov recover the fibers,

intermixing the fibers with pulped fruit, pouring the mixture into a fabric container, pressing the container to express fruit juices therefrom and leave a fruit pomace and cellulose fiber mixture holding the slimy ingredients of the pomace in a unit mass, and inverting and jarring the container to gravitationally release said unit mass from the container.

HERBERT T. LEO.

CLARENCE C. TAYLOR.

JOHN W. LINDSEY. 

